Set in the seventeenth century during the Ukrainians' uprising against the ruling Polish, the plot tells the story of Prince-Colonel Jan Skrzetuski, who falls in love with Princess Elena, noble living with her aunt’s family. Their love is fiercely obstacled by the local Bohun, loyal to the Polish crown despite his Ukrainian origin, who in turn also wants to marry the girl. A story of love and war, that was often the perfect combination to bring to the big screen. The cast was a pretty important one starring Pierre Brice in the lead role of Jan, John Barrymore played the antagonist Bohun and Jeanne Crain is the beautiful Elena. Also starring Gordon Mitchell, who plays the leader of German mercenaries and the talented Milena Vukotic.

This previously unreleased soundtrack sees the light of day thanks the valuable work of Kronos Records, was composed by anexceptional duo. Maestro Francesco de Maesi and Maestro Giovanni Fusco. This is a real milestone in the field of music for films. The reason why this soundtrack was a quattromani, today, is a great mystery as none of the two composers is alive anymore to tell us how it all happened. The fact is that the music in question is beautiful and totally brings out the characters of the composers. Only an amateur would fail to recognize the tensive and romantic notes penned by the hand of Maestro De Masi. While the main theme seems to be closer to the mind of Maestro Fusco. But we are always dealing with hypotheses, even if backed up by footprints that have nearly the significance of DNA. What is for sure is that there is a huge amount of music; dozens of songs recorded with the use of a full orchestra arranged with remarkable passion for brass instruments for the more dynamic songs and woodwinds for those of a more romantic character.

WITH FIRE AND SWORD is an example of a rare beauty and style of great artistic quality brought forth by the genius of composers who continue to make us dream with the rediscovery of works that seemed lost and instead returned to life to boldly state that their authors will never die!

Our eleventh title in The Gold Collection is a Limited edition of 500 copies.